British track star Sebastian Coe set a new world record for the one mile on Thursday ( 17 July) night, apparently without knowing what the old record was. Coe blasted round the Bislet Stadium in Oslo and won the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) Golden Mile to clip 0.4 of a second off New Zealander John Walker's four-year -old world record of three minutes 49.4 seconds.

SYNOPSIS: It was Coe's second world record at the Bislet stadium in 12 days He first put himself in the athletic spotlight by trimming one point 07 seconds off Cuban Alberto Juantorena's 800 metres record set in Sofia two years ago.

Tuesday night's race was fast from the start. American Steve Lacy set a blistering pace by running the first lap in 57.5 seconds, and the second in 57 SECONDS.

CUE AT 22 FT 6.7 Meters 35 Secs Eventually, fellow American Steve Scott and Sebastian Coe took over, and when they reached the final bell -- timed at 2 minutes 52.0 seconds -- they had opened up a ten metres (yards) lead over the rest of the field.

Coe, who had been at Scott's shoulder for most of the race, pushed ahead and gradually burned off the American's challenge in the second part of the lap.

Coe still looked full of running when he hit the tape, having run the final lap ini 57 seconds, for a time of 3 minutes 49.0 seconds.

Coe now plans to tackle the 15 hundred metre at next year's Moscow Olympics